Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-10-10
LITTLE DICK.

ghost some years prior 10 the breaking out OF
the war. and left her with five sons and one
frail daughter to the mercies of cold and
cruel world
aAunt Nina" we were taught to call her,
WINS psunt and grizzled specimen of
cracker woman, uncouth in dress, uncultured
in speecb. but a tiuer, drawer heart never up
held the honest dignity Of motherhood than
the scared and oft grief stricken heart OF
Aunt Nina Loring
She had had trouble when her husband was
alive She had spent many a sleepless night
when her neglectfu lord was INDUCING in the
wild orgies of the crossroads grocery's biggest
carousaL Every time the great owl would
boot from his perch III the great pine tree IN
the lonely woods her heart would leap and
she would expect to hear the rough "helloP
at the gate from some half drunken COM
panion come to tell her that Ebenezer was
killed or badly hurt
OF the boys, there was young Ehen, hale
and hearty, the image of his father, when
first Aunt Nina danced with him at the
party after the quitting ana log rolling Jay,
so long ago. Mack came next, stout comedy
lad, very much reserved and almost indus
tT1ous. Riley was tail and slender, like his
mother In form, but Ike his father, Wild
sort OF fellow M disposition hamp came
fourth among the boys, but Betty was older
than he. Hanp was biockheaded, stupid
sort OF lad, iona OF trapping Tor pirds ana
fishing In Grand bay as the Dig, black
swamp, back of the little plantation, was
called And then there was Little Dick
When the war come Eben, Mack and Riley
had all grown up to manhood, and might
have supported their mother handsomely,
but their fathers shiftless career seemed TO
initiate against them, ana they generally
caIne out at the end OF the year with scarce
nubbin corn enough for bread, and the
yellow COW peas and the strIngy potatoes
were hardly equal to the emergency of
strengthening out the lean Hanks OF the few
bundles of bone and bristie, known as 'piney
woods rooters,' and sometimes mistaken for
hogs.
Nevertheless by the aid of the good
mother, and the scrawnv looking slip of a
sister, they managed TO live. Then came the
war Aunt Nina and Betty spun and wove
the cloth from which Ebens first uniform of
gray mixed cloth was made. and the strong.
sturdy fellow was not sorry that he had a
chance of ''Gittin out o henscratch o. the
house as he expressed it. Riley and Mack
soon followed. and the beams of the old loom
trembleti as the shuttle flew back and forth
turning its strokes to the rhythmic drone of
the busy spinning wheel They were busy
Aunt Nina and Betty, weaving a suit for
Hamp, and all too soon the call came. The
hungry call for more troops The blood
curdline howl of the famished dogs of war
More mem More menu And when the
men were torn and rent asunder. the last
most heartrending demand came, sGive rs
your boysi Give us rour hoysI"
An the war the war; MT satisfied with
the blood of men the tender forms of cher
ishad bovbood-ou-su n,ust IN Nat con-
tent with ehe yellow grain the tender staIk
while vet in ths mill pnst he cut down
The flower of the south was plueked and
trampled under the iron heel of relentless
war, and now the gaunt, bloody hand was
extended to Gull the half blown bud, the hope
of the land!
-Four bows gone marching away TO die for a
cause, the business of which the Door widow
was unable to argue. What did she care for
the doctrine of states rights. How could the
perpetuatiOn or abolition of slavery affect herl
Her four bows were gone marching away
marching away Not with plumes waving
and victorious banners floating i'll the breeze
No, not triumphant and flushed with hope.
They had gone marching away into the Jaws
of grim death, to fill the breach in the lines
BY the Potnmars crimsOned food Marching
away with Topping cloth hats and mixed
gray uniforms of homespun, and i'll fitting
shoes of red leather, your boys had gone,
marching away marching away.
Eben was killed III the wilderness. Riley
died in prison. Hanp died of exhaustion ard
the bardships of a northern climate, while
following Jeb Stuart in his wild rides over
mountain and valley
All, You that are thrilled with stirring emo
tious when you read how that knightly com
mander, bearded and booted, rode forward
down into hattie with a song on his lips:
When the dew is on the blossom
Little think We how many brave boyisb
hearts swelled up into their threats at the
thought Of widowed mothers among the bar
rens
Mack came home lie was brought on the
cars to the nearest station and then hauled in
a cart TO his home in the piney woods Only
the poor, shattered wreck of a man came
home, and she had watched four stout lads go
marching away.
Il haint got but two now, an Mack, poor
Teller, Pm afeared he'll never see the black
berry blossoms agin. He was terribly wounded
at the start an them h0spitle muses. thest
in a manner made it wuss Then here's Little
Dick, God SEN they won't want my baby
boy"
But they did. They wanted the baby boy
The hungry war dogs must snap and smart
over the weakly frame of Little Dick, too
How well remember the weakly looking
ladi Five feet, scant at that slender and
boyisb. Two great hollow eyes set in a
Punched, pale face the unattractiyeness of
which was heightened by a thin, scattered
head of sun scOrched hair A little whitish
fuzzy down OH cheek and chin, where the
heard should have appeared and the sur
rOundings given more encouragement Color
less complexion, save the salluw cast of sun
burn, and few blue veins up under the brim
of his Topped hat, The in titang clothes
hung about his person, and the boys said that
he used to have to drag his mlisket when out
of breath on a long march.
Poor Aunt Mimnl She left the bedside
where the body OF her emaciated boy lay in
inert and indifferent prostration between life
and death, the manly tones of voice dwindled
down to a querulOuS treble and the animated
look changed to the vacant, nerveless stare of
hOpelessness She left this sorrowful scene
to enfold IN a fond embrace the puny form
Of her baby boy Great tears chased one
another down the bosom OF the i'll fitting Jacket,
and kisses rained on the sunburned cheek until
the lips parched with grief, were 10 longer
10 10 l,,.I.~